therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’
I’ve pondered this verse in Hebrews for many years. I’ve thought of it, until just now – today – as “pretend it’s cuz you’re being disciplined” or “make believe that you’re guilty, and therefore endure this hard time as discipline”
But in light of Isaiah 28:16… the suffering is in the resisting of sin, look at verse 4,
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
God is testing you! No, wait, your Father is perfecting you! No, wait! It’s both!
“Oh GOD! How did I get into this mess!?!” We exclaim! We’re… well, listen, if you dint want to come along for a ride in this I can use the first person… I
I exclaim! I’m so focused on the knowledge of my guilt, that I miss the point… there is NO avoiding of suffering!
Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him
Loving one another without any other ambition than obedience!
Next, as regards brotherly love, you don’t need any written instructions. God himself is teaching you to love each other, and you are already extending your love to all the Macedonians. Yet we urge you to have more and more of this love, and to make it your ambition to have no ambition!
God I confess that I have given in, and yielded to the temptation of manipulating! Letting my gift of words be used by the enemy! Good intentions be damned!
I yield to you, oh, God! Thank you for your word, today and always!
Gossip in all forms, is not God’s way.
I’ll go pray now… I’m back!
Going forward, the temptation is to FIX what I broke… but I have been cut off!
It’s humbling, but it’s my Father! I trust in HIM.
In this interview the reporter asks, “Have you experienced a peace that passes all understanding?”
Toby: “Oh, yeah, yeah… I finally got to a point in the spring… I was diagnosed in October of ’21, and I was going through all the chemo and radiation surgery, and I just got to a point where I was comfortable with whatever happened, I had my brain wrapped around it, and I was in a good spot, either way… so, people without faith don’t have that…”
Amen, Toby, amen.
There’s a guy that was so deservedly famous, so successful at what he did. And he didn’t lose his focus on knowing and being known by the one who matters most. The one who loves each of us the most. Our loving, heavenly father.
There’s the story about Jesus resting by a well, just outside of a Samaritan town, it says in John 4, that he was wearied from his journey in verse 6. He was resting there. His disciples had gone into town to get some food, and along came this woman.
I love this story for so many reasons, but I’ll mention two for just now. When his disciples returned, he told them, in verse 32, “…I have food to eat of which you do not know.” And the folks that came out to see Jesus (the woman had ran into town to tell them “come and see”) they told her, in verse 42, “Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
My message to the world is, “Come and see…” and God does the rest, he doesn’t let you down.
Come and see.
Toby Keith saw for himself on this side of eternity, and now he’s seen what we all can one day see, his Lord and Saviour face to face, in Glory.
I’d never heard until today his latest song, “Don’t Let The Old Man In” and I’m being so blessed by it. All the more since I heard that interview that aired just a few days before the day of his passing.
Death and Hell are the same thing. Death is eternal separation from God. When our bodies die, we leave this world. This world is where both good and evil coexist, with God himself limiting the power of evil in the world.
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
Keep reading that verse until it sinks in… God is in control.
He is patiently waiting out the time between now and the inevitable destiny of this earth. Go back to the garden, in Genesis 3, sin entered into the world, and infected the human race, by an act of the free will of Adam and Eve, the first residents of earth. The earth was cursed, doomed, to end.
I Do Not Understand
I do not. I don’t know why he didn’t just destroy it all right then and there. I do not. The End.
But here it is:
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
God is waiting for as many folks as can to turn from being apart from God, to being a part of GOD in this world, through becoming a part of his people. This happens through accepting Jesus Christ.
The Good News is that God has no plan for any of us to go to Hell. His plan is to rescue as many as will come… before he pulls the plug on this world.
When he does, he promises a new heaven and a new earth, and there will no longer be the coexistence of good and evil. It will all be good!
Come And See
What if you who are reading this are curious, not just ready to walk out of the known into the unknown?
Get a Bible. Read this book – the Bible is made up of 66 books, so for understanding its central message (Jesus Christ) look at The book of John’s Gospel.
It’s interesting to me that this lady wrote this book around 1934… and that what she depicts is herself moved from being detached from her inner life by all the “shoulds” she even left her intuitive (female) traits to adopt the logical (male) ones, due to her pursuit of success in the scientific realm of psychiatry.
She makes a case for this little by little, here is an example:
“I had been continually exhorted to define my purpose in life, but I was now beginning to doubt whether life might not be too complex a thing to be kept within the bounds of a single formulated purpose, whether it would not burst its way out, or if the purpose were too strong, perhaps grow distorted like an oak whose trunk has been encircled with an iron band. I began to guess that my self’s need was for an equilibrium, for sun, but not too much, for rain, but not always… So I began to have an idea of my life, not as the slow shaping of achievement to fit my preconceived purposes, but as the gradual discovery and growth of a purpose which I did not know. I wrote: “It will mean walking in a fog for a bit, but it’s the only way which is not a presumption, forcing the self into a theory.
I happened to be at a service station this morning, and noticed the air hose was left strewn carelessly… as I went over and put things right… I wondered what I’d say if I was caught and confronted!
It doesn’t belong to me, and all those excuses to not reach out…
I feel helpless about all that’s happening in the world at large, and in the lives of those close to me – right next door!
I can’t fix it all… what CAN I do?!?
…so where ever I see a little bit to do that might just make the world a little better place… I’m gonna do it!
“Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
As my wife, Cheryl, and I sat in our living room having just returned from our home group, she asked me expectantly where it says that we are to step out of the light and into the darkness. So, I let her keep talking. After all, what the heck? Step out of the light?
Our son, Ashton, had a word for us all during our time together, also. He spoke of loyalty to the devil and loyalty to God, being different and opposite.
As the fellowship time continued I battled my intention to be silent. But the word “obedience” kept coming to my mind. The topic of the night was “worship” using the two scriptures from Sunday’s sermon. Genesis 22:5 and Romans 12:1-2 in these contexts “worship” means to bow down and prostrate one’s self in obedience.
Abraham was walking out of “the light” of his own understanding ever since he left Ur of the Chaldeas. Following and trusting in God completely. Hos obedience was imperfect but God perfected it over the course of his life.
“But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
I’m adding that verse here because we can be part of this same process of God’s perfecting our obedience, by learning to listen. When we listen, it’s 2 parts
hearing
obedience
When we’ve actually heard from God, the confirmation comes with it; our heart tell us the idea wasn’t our own.
This was not only the ultimate test of his trust in God, but also of his obedience, his obedience was “spiritual worship” it was a picture of what Romans 12:1-2 is talking about when Paul urged that
As she talked the scripture about the daylight (John 11:9-10) came to mind, and I looked it up.
Lets look back on the events leading up to Jesus words there. – whenever a scripture comes to my mind I look at the surrounding scriptures to get the context of it – In John 10:38-42we read that Jesus escaped their grasp, the ones trying to kill him, and they went back across the Jordan.
Then, when they got word about Lazarus being sick, what did Jesus do?
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
The disciples thought the pattern was run from trouble! Death avoidance!
I wonder if this sounds about right,
Jesus left because Lazarus had to die
Jesus stayed 2 extra days beacuse Lazarus had to be really dead!
Then Jesus had to go back to raise him from the dead, because JESUS had to die! And raising Lazarus from the dead was the last straw —- where they finally realize it!
When the disciples spoke of their confusion it was because they were leaning on their own understanding! Depending on the light of Day, rather than THE LIGHT which was JESUS himself
“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
Memories, you know? They keep going back further and further in my mind, as I ponder all that went on there in my youth. But, lets cut in at that speech, back in 1983, it was me speaking, in response to the toast to the bride, my first wife.
Well, having said that LOL< lets go back a little bit further for a moment, all my life I’ve been reading my bible. I remember one particular time, I was in grade 10. My bible reading took on a new phase. I’d read through the first chapter of Romans and it all went in one eye, and out the other. I retained nothing, I gained nothing, I learned nothing. One of the verses that I had retained over the years was John 14:26, and rightly or wrongly I claimed this truth of that verse for me:
That the Holy Spirit was given, to me, to teach me God’s word. The Holy Spirit is my teacher.
So, I informed God in prayer, and by subsequent action that I would not be leaving that first chapter of Romans until I understood it.
I read it daily until it began to sink in.
Since then I’ve gone back to Romans chapter 1 many many times. It has been a foundational chapter.
From there my journey through the Bible has been according to that same pattern. My effort is to read, and meditate, his is to teach me and remind me.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
The “remind me” part is profound because I’ll be in a conversation or writing, and scriptures will come to my mind. I’ve learned to actually go to the passage, and read the verse that came to mind in its full context, and the food is surely food indeed. I then know all the more, by experience, that God has been the one speaking to me, by his Holy Spirit.
Another thing that began to happen somewhere along the way is that God would bring me to theme verses or chapters.
That photo at the top, is to begin to pull you into the “thing” I’ve been called to write about today. What’s with those big doors. Hopefully by the end here, you can tell me what they’ve come to mean. And then the verses, John 16:12-15. Those verses are at first obscure until you’ve read what I’ve written here. So you’re reading here is flavored by that verse.
God has always been faithful to prepare me for what’s coming up in my life. Way back when I prayed on a street corner, while on my way to catch a bus, I prayed a prayer. I acknowledged that God was there. I asked him to teach me in a way that I could understand, and prove himself to me. Is this his Bible, is this his church, all those questions I had.
Part of God being faithful to that prayer is that he prepares me for what’s coming. Just like Jesus did with the disciples in John, they still didn’t “get it” by the way. It wasn’t until after that they realized fully all that he’d come to teach them.
You know when a movie starts off with the turning point event, and the rest of the movie is a flashback of what led up to it?
I’m kinda tired of trying to explain it… what I mean is that the verse is understood through the real life context of events that transpire after I receive it. That’s what I call “Theme Verses”
Now, that was a flashback on a flashback, because I entered my marriage with the book of 1 Peter as my theme, and I marveled out loud, as I gave the speech that followed the toast to the bride, on August 20, 1983.
1 Peter, to me, was about suffering. And I mentioned as I gestured with a sweeping hand to my bride, how could a beautiful wife like that have anything to do with suffering?
Anyone who knows me, and my story, will smile a knowing smile. First Peter was exactly what I needed to keep in mind. It was part of his preparing me, preserving me.
Its so hard to recall, although I vividly recall it, but the hard part is if I could go back, I’d want to tell that young man (me, remember?) all about how the suffering that would take place! She would be central to it. But also, just as 1 Peter says, it was for the purification of my faith.
New International Version:
1 Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Its great when you actually go to the scripture that comes to mind, because its harder to shape the verse into my own life experience, instead of submitting to what the scripture says. I’d like to let God off the hook, but look at what Peter says:
“This is no accident—it happens to prove your faith”
So is God the source of suffering? Who would suppose so? I don’t want to quibble. But I’m willing to learn. Willing to be wrong here.
But God does allow suffering. He doesn’t shield us from it. If He did, how would we know he’s even there? As J B Phillips puts it, “At present you trust him without being able to see him, and even now he brings you a joy that words cannot express” in verse 8.
Think of a group of young men, who are told by their master to go from A to B. And along the way they encounter evil-doers who mean to harm them. We who have the benefit of seeing all around them, ahead and behind, see the lurking losers. And those neophyte’s among us might call out, “Oh! God! How could you send them into certain death like that?!?!” And God would smile, maybe, or maybe he’d smack you on the back of the head and tell you to shut up and watch what’s about to transpire.
So, lets get right out of the theoretical and into my own personal experience. The ultimate point of suffering that came through that first marriage, when she walked us to divorce, was when I found myself in Jail.
They came for me late at night, after being told by my wife that I had threatened to kill her and the children. She took advantage of the hype in the air at the time over a big story in the media. A new phrase we’d not heard before was entered into the public vocabulary, Criminal Harassment. Although it was nothing new, a fellow had threatened, and police didn’t act on the complaints, and he ended up murdering the lady he was threatening. On top of all of this, she used my children to call me and find out exactly where I was, because the police were out looking for me. The paddy wagon came for me, and a police officer. God gave me grace right away, as I was not taken in the back of the paddy wagon, but in the back seat of the police cruiser. Among the things he asked me was, “Is you wife a vindictive woman?” I asked him what vindictive meant. sigh.
It turned out that when she’d warned me, “if you fight this divorce, you’ll regret it” she made good on it that day. She waited for her opportunity, and took it. At first I didn’t put up a fight, she was slandering me already in the courts, and when I realized that I’d better get a lawyer, I did so.
The officer brought me into the cop shoppe at Main and Hastings, and after handing in my paperwork to the boys at the desk, he left me standing there in the area where free folks could stand, and he walked out. Then the men behind the desk came and opened the holding cell door, and directed me inside. I sat down cold and sober. There was a guy there across from me who’d had a ham and pineapple pizza earlier that evening, wanna know how I found that out? He was passed out, and the contents of his stomach lay beside him. I remember a crack pipe being passed around – I wasn’t included – it was and is the most frightening thing that ever happened to me. Soon they took us each to the cells, where we would spend the night, two by two. Metal bunks with thin yoga type mats for mattresses. A metal sink and a metal toilet that didn’t have a lid. I can’t tell you much about the guy I was put in there with. I didn’t win him to Jesus that night. I was too frightened. I climbed up on the top bunk, and he said to me, “Hey? You a hype?” (which meant he was hoping for some drugs from me) I didn’t answer him. Later on when the guards locked the outer door. There were ab out 12 cells, inside a big room, that itself had a locked door. There was some noise from the far end of the room. I can’t recall the details but a pop-up drug store was brought about… a guy had smuggled Valium into his cell, the pills were inside a condom, that was up his orifice, which he pulled out, and was dispensing into little torn squares of paper with a McDonald stir stick… they don’t have those anymore by the way, but they apparently served out the perfect amount of the drug. And the offer was made to roll or throw a looney over to him, and he’d pass y’all a folded up package of the downer.
As I lay there on the top bunk, I remember two things very distinctly. That’s when and where I told God that it was over. I didn’t want to be with anyone that could do such a thing as that to me. The second was that although I was afraid, I was completely at peace. The only way to describe it would be to draw you a picture. But first a verse,
Delight yourselves in God, yes, find your joy in him at all times. Have a reputation for gentleness, and never forget the nearness of your Lord.
Don’t worry over anything whatever; tell God every detail of your needs in earnest and thankful prayer, and the peace of God which transcends human understanding, will keep constant guard over your hearts and minds as they rest in Christ Jesus.
First picture is a room full of folks who just heard some bad news about their town. There’s muttering, panicking, finger pointing… and then God strolls up to the front, and takes the microphone… and he stands there, looking at them all calmly, one by one the room grows silent, and all eyes rest on him. His presence, his peace, his authority governs the room. It rules, and peace prevails.
Another picture. Its water, calm still water, who’s surface was like glass… and just above that you’d see my mind personified as a person, who was trying to reach that glassy calm water to disturb it… but I couldn’t reach it. I couldn’t make myself panic. I was at perfect peace. I didn’t know how all this would work out, but I had a perfect peace. God showed up,
“At present you trust him without being able to see him, and even now he brings you a joy that words cannot express”
How could I ever wish to trade that experience away? It remains ever with me.
The next day after signing my promise to appear papers, which included a promise to stay completely out of contact with my ex and our children, I was given my belongings, and I remember what it felt like once again to be a free man, after that one night locked in a cell. I remember sitting in a coffee shop in Kitsilano along Cornwall Avenue, musing about the Joy in my heart.
God had allowed that suffering, and he kept me safe through out it. I’ve since then found other verses that help me in times of trouble,
If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you… no weapon forged against you will prevail (prosper)
I was an imperfect man, being perfected by the hand of God… my faith was being perfected also. And, by the way, I am still an imperfect man, being perfected. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
At some point I quit pointing the finger of blame at everyone else, and took on the task of realizing what I’d done, my character defects, the lapses in my faith. He’s led me all these years between then and now, to where I am. A grateful result of all that he has done, and all that he’s allowed.
That all brings to mind, me standing on a street corner in North Vancouver, and I was meditating on John 15… if you abide in me, and I abide in you, you will bear fruit. No such dynamic was in my life, but I confessed it as such, and asked God to bring about the truth of those verses in my life. I wanted my life to be not so much about what I said, but that my faith would be seen in my actions. That my fruit would be a tangible result of God’s work.
3-10 As far as we are concerned we do not wish to stand in anyone’s way, nor do we wish to bring discredit on the ministry God has given us. Indeed we want to prove ourselves genuine ministers of God whatever we have to go through—patient endurance of troubles or even disasters, being flogged or imprisoned; being mobbed, having to work like slaves, having to go without food or sleep. All this we want to meet with sincerity, with insight and patience; by sheer kindness and the Holy Spirit; with genuine love, speaking the plain truth, and living by the power of God. Our sole defense, our only weapon, is a life of integrity, whether we meet honour or dishonour, praise or blame. Called “impostors” we must be true, called “nobodies” we must be in the public eye. Never far from death, yet here we are alive, always “going through it” yet never “going under”. We know sorrow, yet our joy is inextinguishable. We have “nothing to bless ourselves with” yet we bless many others with true riches. We are penniless, and yet in reality we have everything worth having.
Just now, 6:30 am, while waiting at a light, I saw a man in tattered clothes cross the road in front of me. His pants were baggy, they looked like they were maybe once his size, held up with a piece of rope or twine for a belt. His coat was flapping open, in the cold morning wind and rain, a hoody under that. And one of those green canvass shopping bags was clutched in his right hand, it had a few things in it, he needed a shave, and in his mouth his lips clenched a cigarette stump. Every bit of that man said “homeless” right down the trudge of his shuffling steps.
The cigarette is why I’ve brought him here to talk with us.
I didn’t despise that man, nor did I pity rise in my heart, though he deserved either of those. That cigarette said to me that he’s hanging onto his dignity with what little strength he has left.
As I ponder what I might do to reach out to such a man, rather than tear away that cigarette, I might buy him a pack of smokes.
Or maybe I’d just go walk nearby where he is. In some guise or other to fool him into believing that I too belonged there. And wait for an opportunity to see if there’s a way out for him. I could pray in that waiting time, that he’d reach out to me in some way.
How would you tangibly love such a man?
Or maybe I’d do some top secret reconnaissance and leave some supplies where he could find them… dignity intact…
This is a photograph of a pencil drawing I did in high school. The assignment:
Choose a photograph from the materials provided, a pile of magazines really.
Cut out the photo, and paste it to a paper
draw grid lines on it
Take a large piece of paper, and draw larger grid onto it
Purpose is two fold:
reproduce the original photo
enlarge or shrink original size
using various pencil lead softness, draw what is in each grid
do not spend much time in each grid box, keep moving so that whole picture develops evenly
Results…
What I remember from doing this is of course the final picture. Its the best drawing I’ve ever done. When I stood back from the process, I was just as amazed as anyone else, feeling it was/is something that was done outside of myself.
I was obedient to the process assigned to me by my art teacher, Mr. Randy Marchinko. My favourite teacher ever, shout out to him!
By breaking up the photo into little chunks, I was able to use the negative and positive space relative to the immediate grid lines, to draw them exactly in relation to where they ought to be. By moving around on the page, going from general to more and more detail, there is a cohesiveness that develops. Of course not much of any part of the sprocket can fit into each grid square, so there’s always a line that ceases in one grid, and starts up in another. Using different softness of lead, hard lead for lighter, soft lead for darker… and the eraser of course! The picture develops by itself, paying attention to the process.
I’m using this picture to tell another story, though.
Its the story of my life, as I step back from being up close to “the drawing” I am amazed in much the same way as all those years ago in High School. I feel outside of myself, hardly believing its my life.
I’m thankful is what I am. And often I experience a kind of survivor’s guilt for where I’m at, because I am more than just ok. The pain in my life at present is for those around me who find themselves also at the end of art class, with a picture that isn’t giving anyone any cause for awe.
NOW right there I know that I need to stop, and have YOU step back. I’m thankful for where I’m at because this is my personal best, this pencil drawing. Are there things I wish I’d done differently? Yes, for example I wouldn’t have used newsprint paper, I’d have used a higher grade of linen paper, thicker and to withstand the wear and tear of time.
Being thankful is more than half the battle. Thankfulness is for any and all of us on this side of the grave!
Look at this scripture:
If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else…
I’m humbled daily by the folks I see doing the best they can with what they’ve got! It’s the ones who think they have no HOPE that my heart breaks for.
It was only a study. Just something to teach me how to draw. What do they call that now, hmmm, I can’t quite recall. Our teacher taught us many other skills, and had us look into famous artists. I did an essay on Pablo Picasso, and found out that he had extremely good skills who was capable of photograph like reproduction of his objects, but his was impressionist / expressionist realm stuff. The idea was to communicate the emotion of his heart, by limiting what we see, and thereby trying to create in you, the one viewing his art, the same feeling in himself. Use of line, colours, media, subject matter… but I digress… LOL
While in high school, I had other things going on, and one I’m most grateful for is parents who took me to God, and his word. There are many scriptures that come to mind on this whole topic, but here’s this one for now:
31-33 “So don’t worry and don’t keep saying, ‘What shall we eat, what shall we drink or what shall we wear?! That is what pagans are always looking for; your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Set your heart on the kingdom and his goodness, and all these things will come to you as a matter of course.
34 “Don’t worry at all then about tomorrow. Tomorrow can take care of itself! One day’s trouble is enough for one day.”
Matthew 6:31-34 J B Phillips
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:31-34 New King James Version
And of course I think once more about what Augustine said on this topic of where to focus your attention(s)
I really have come to appreciate J B Phillips over the years, as one truly inspired translator of the Bible. Look at that line
“Tomorrow can take care of itself!”
In another key scripture that comes to mind, J B Phillips says, “Make it your ambition to have no ambition!” What a thing to say! I can hear folks wanting to scoff at that, just as loudly as at Jesus words there in Matthew chapter 6! And I’ve heard plenty of scoffing as I went from there to here. From once upon a time a young man, to this old man that I am now.
Next, as regards brotherly love, you don’t need any written instructions. God himself is teaching you to love each other, and you are already extending your love to all the Macedonians. Yet we urge you to have more and more of this love, and to make it your ambition to have no ambition!
Be busy with your own affairs and do your work yourselves. The result will be a reputation for honesty in the world outside and an honourable independence.
Just think of this, though. Jesus was and is the ULTIMATE success story, for he lived and died his life in complete sacrificial obedience to the Father, his Father, Our Father, which art in heaven! Just think of how they scoffed, as he hung there on the cross, bleeding and dying, for the sin of this whole world, all of creation.
If you were to look closely at my life you might only pity me, the lens you use to look upon me being such that it is. But as for me,
They knew all the time that there is a God, yet they refused to acknowledge him as such, or to thank him for what he is or does. Thus they became fatuous in their argumentations, and plunged their silly minds still further into the dark.
I’m just really thankful today, and yet I still suffer, for I cannot have pure joy when I look out into the world and see those still lost, and without HOPE in your heart and soul, its never ever too late, to look to God and live… drop me a line, I”ll talk you through it 🙂
Running Down Vimy 